How do you clean a dog’s mouth after eating a dead animal?
You can clean it directly by wrapping a cloth around your finger and gently wiping it out with salt water, baking soda or even coconut oil. Be careful not to gag your dog. Alternatively, you can add mouthwash to your dog’s water or increase his natural saliva production with a dental chew.
Is it normal for a dog to kill a rabbit?
If your dog kills a baby rabbit, it’s because its hunting instinct is strong and it’s merely giving in to its natural behavior. While unpleasant and relatively uncommon in pets, it’s quite normal for dogs to eat baby rabbits.
Why are dogs attracted to dead animals?
Like so many things with dogs, this all comes down to the smell. Dogs have a strong innate sense of smell, which has played an important evolutionary role in hunting and mating. It should come as no surprise that dogs are intrigued by the scent of dead animals. Considering this scent typically worsens with time, dead animals typically get more interesting for your dog. If your dog enjoys exploring the outdoors, chances are he or she will come across a dead animal and want to pick it up at some point.
There are a few reasons dogs become obsessed with odors that make humans gag. One popular theory traces things back to dogs’ wolf ancestors, who would have very important survival reasons for hanging around gross stuff like dead animals and feces—the strong smells from these things can help cover the dog’s (or wolf’s) smell, which helps her hide from would-be predators.
This is very much the opposite for humans. “Humans perceive ‘bad’ odors through either some inbuilt evolutionary acquired mechanism to prevent harm, e.g. repulsion by feces to prevent disease, or through learning,” Peter Hepper, head of the school of psychology at Queen’s University in Belfast, explained to Gizmodo.
